World

By
Compiled from wire service reports by Ross Atkin /
August 4, 2008

North Korea said Sunday it will expel South Koreans from Diamond Mountain, a resort in the communist country, a further sign of fraying ties between the two Koreas. Last month, a North Korean solider fatally shot a South Korean tourist at the resort, prompting strong protests from Seoul. North Korea said the woman strayed into a restricted military area while strolling on a beach, but South Korea has raised doubts about the account.

A bomb blast in Mogadishu, Somalia, Sunday killed at least 20 people, including 10 women street cleaners, amid a political crisis that has threatened the government's peace deal with elements of an Islamic insurgency. The bomb exploded under a pile of garbage. The blast occurred after last month's peace agreement, which has fueled power struggles within both the transitional government and the Islamic insurgency it is fighting.

Cambodia said Sunday that Thai soldiers are occupying a second temple site along their border in an escalation of an ongoing armed standoff that nearly led to clashes between the neighbors last month. The temple is several hundred miles west of the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple, where Cambodian and Thai soldiers have been locked in a standoff for three weeks in a dispute over nearby land.

At least five climbers from a South Korean team were killed by an avalanche near the summit of K-2, the world's second highest mountain, and expedition organizers said Sunday they worry other teams may have perished when breaking ice tore away fixed lines.

Further measures to stimulate Japan's economy are under consideration, members of a newly appointed Cabinet said Sunday in addressing consumer concerns about rising prices. Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda replaced several key ministers Friday in a move aimed at boosting public support of his government

The fifth meeting of the Coalition of First Ladies and Women Leaders of Latin America on Women and AIDS began in Mexico City over the weekend. The week-long conference addresses the effects of gender inequality and violence in putting women at greater risk of exposure to HIV.

Anglican bishops concluded their once-in-decade Lambeth Conference Sunday in Canter-bury, England, which focused on rebuilding frayed relationships over views on homosexuality within the Anglican Communion and its 77 million members. There were no votes or resolutions, but bishops who drafted a global covenant recommended a moratorium on blessing same-sex unions and on consecrating any more partnered gay bishops.

A Manila-bound Qantas jetliner made an emergency landing Sunday in Sydney, Australia, only eight days after an explosion blew a hole in the fuselage of another Qantas plane en route from London to Australia. The latest incident involved a hydraulic fluid leak from a wing-control mechanism, which prompted the pilot to dump fuel in order to make an emergency landing at the same airport where the plane took off.

A team of Australian researches has pioneered cheaper fuel cells to power green cars, according to findings in the current issue of the journal Science. The scientists have built a cathode from a conducting polymer rather than platinum, which cuts the material costs from as much as $4,000 to only several hundred dollars.